Note: A number of photos were in the original write up, but they did not transfer with the write up for what ever reason.
Eskort and I put much time into this and it was to be a tech tip, but was turned down for ............................??

There has been some confussion as to the correct shim stack or how many or where they go.

All my fault. I measured some of the washers and must have gotten some of the figures botched.
I wouldn't tear into your carbs if they are working fine, but here is a newer write -up with a bit more detail.

After some help from Eskort, I've gone over everything and this should help.

The photo's did not copy into this post for some reason, but the write up is correct.

RavenRider’s GEN 1 Carb Stuff

Here’s a quick primer on items I’ve done to improve carburetor performance. If you haven’t had much experience working on bikes, I suggest you get a shop manual or Clymer’s manual for the Gen I, on hand before starting in to this project. This may take time, but can be done by the novice if you ask questions when you’re stuck and take your time doing things (ie don’t force stuff.) There are plenty of resources on the board to help you.

Parts to buy:
Qty (4) -- Main Jets--125 main jets for 2000-5000ft,NOTE: Up-Date on Sizes (due to feed back from some members a size change may be in order. Every bike has it's own sweet spot so.....) 127.5 work for some, but 130's may give better top end performance below 2,000 ft. (Sudco .com--Sudco catalog page # 138, Sudco part # 004-296--Mikuni Main Jets--small round--N102.221--Jet size #127.5; #004-297 --Jet size 130.0)

Also needed are small washers for shimming the needles—available at Radio Shack
A small pack of washers is about $2. We are looking for washers about the same thickness as the stock washers on the needles. About 8 to 12 washers are needed; .021” or .53 mm thick.

Air box cover mod: Pictures are now on post #2 and #3 below.

Remove cover. There is what is called a snorkel that sticks down actually into the center of the air filter. The intake horn points rearward on the top.

1. Flip the cover over and make a cut across the center of the snorkel, down, stopping at the bottom of the lid surface. Now make a second cut down the lid so that the front 1/2 (that would be on the carb side of the snorkel) is removed. Clean up all edges with a scrapper or Dremel tool to remove any loose material.
2. Drill a 1-1/4" hole through the cover on the center of that snorkel area. That would be in the intake horn actually right over the area where you just removed 1/2 of the snorkel.

Here is how a cover looks when I'm done with one.

Attached Images

None of this has to be super critical. You are simply opening up the air box so it can breathe.

Next: Pull the carbs. Back to Pat's site for pictures.
The battery will have to come out and there are three bolts that hold the air box forward.

Carb Pilot circuit:
Before opening the carbs, drill and remove the air screw plugs (Pat's site again). Set the air screws by turning them in LIGHTLY until resistance is felt(there is an o ring there that can be damaged if over tightened), then back them out 3-1/2 turns. There are those that say to go out to 4-1/2 and more but then you don't need to use the choke. Guess why the bike has a choke. For starting. If you don't need the choke to start, then the bike will be too rich when warmed up and mpg will suffer.
For detail pictures, you can go to Pat's site at the top right of this page. Not all but most will be listed there with some pictures that will help you.

Carb slides:
Remove the covers on the tops of the carbs (black). Do not lose the very small O rings that are under the covers. I super glue them in place when I do these carbs.
There are three holes in the bottom of the carb slides, one for the needle (in the center), and one on each side.
Remove the needles and the retainers. Again do not lose the springs that attach to the needle retainers (gray plastic). Use a #32 US drill or a 2.7 mm drill bit to drill the "other two" holes out (better throttle response).

Richen midrange—Two techniques—use shims to raise stock needles or use European needles with the clip lowered. Both will give the same result.

Note: Some years (03) have different thickness plastic spacers. I hand file or sand the thicker ones down so that all four are the same thickness.

Shim the needles: You can get small electrical washers that will fit on the needles from Radio Shack for about $2 for a whole pack of them.
The stock washers are about .021” or .53mm.
Put three washers for a total of .063" or 1.59mm, with the plastic spacers under the clip. Measure with a vernier caliper. You can sand or rub the washers on a file to get the correct match up for the thickness. You should be able to get the shim stacks within .10 mm, which is plenty close enough.

Euro needles: clip in the second from the bottom notch, the plastic spacer and one washer under the clip.
I also clip off the very top of the needle right at the top notch. Why?????????? The needle keeper has a tendency to not lock down well when the needle gets raised.
On some bikes that others had worked on, I have found the keepers loose in the slides and the needles not properly seated.

Re-install the needles. Install the slides, springs and the covers.

Flip the carbs over. Pull the float bowls. (See Pat's)
Set the floats at 14mm. Install the main jets. Re-install the float bowls.

See next photo: The one on the left is stock; the one on the right is ported. The pointers show what is to be removed.
Use a Dremel tool (or equivalent) with a "small drum sander" (I no longer use the cutter in the second photo below) to start with.
I then finish by hand sanding with 180 grit emery cloth using a wooden dowel with a slot cut in it on one end to put emery cloth in. Then wind a few laps around the dowel.
Hand sand to smooth and blend in after using the small sanding drum.

I wear magnifier goggles so I can be accurate with the sanding drum. I hold the boot over a shop vacuum to keep the dust down.

Take your time on the first one, the rest will go faster. I do a set of 4 in about 1-1/4 hours.

If you are not comfortable doing them, send them to me, I'll do them and send them back for $25 plus shipping. I think Ivan has them for about $180 or so, ported new.

You can do them if you can read and tie your shoes.

The first picture shows the stock boot on the carb.

IMPORTANT. I DID ALL THE SANDING WITH THE BOOT HELD FREE HAND AND NOT ON THE CARB. There's a fair amount of debris that you don't want getting into the carb mouths

Note the lower half of the carb mouth is obscured (it will be clearer what I mean when you see the finished boots). I removed excess material from the lower half of the boot (roughly from 4 o'clock around to 8 o'clock) to give the intake charge a straight shot into the head.

The top of the boot is left untouched, although I did remove the small hump where the vacuum stub enters the inlet. Also, I removed material from the boot-to-head joint area (the circuit-shaped end) to blend in precisely with the cylinder head inlet port.

The second picture shows the partially finished boot. The surface is still pretty rough.

This photo shows a finished boot on the carb mouth. Note how you can now see the whole of the lower part of the carb mouth where it enters the boot.

Also, see how the circuit-shaped end of the boot has been opened up slightly on the inside to blend precisely with the head. Again, another important thing to note is the raised ridge that runs around the circuit-shaped end ... this acts like an O-ring, to prevent air leaks. Obviously you need to avoid damaging this ridge with the sander.

Install the carbs and air box, double check all connections and fittings, bolts and screws.

Advancer mod: There also is a thread with instructions on how to modify the stock ignition advancer. It's in the tech tips area.

See Eskort’s Advancer Mod. It is an easy job. The 3 - 4 deg advancer will help low and mid-range performance.

Balance the carbs: Again, best to go to Pat’s site for pictures.

Set the TPS: Back to pat’s site for pictures. There is an addendum at the end listing Ivan’s recommendations for setting the TPS. Follow those instructions.

>>> Disclaimer ... if you know where to look, ALL of this info is already around the forum, posted by various people... I'm not giving away any one specific tuner's trade secrets here..... Just an overall idea of what has worked in the MANY MANY jet kit installs that Glenn has done over the years.

Just got done with my Ravenrider carb mods. Couldn't be happier with the results. It's the best $10.60 I've ever spent on a bike. Had a machinist at work make me an aluminum block with a 14mm notch in it for the float setting, made it very easy. The boot porting wasn't bad except I was shaking pretty good when I did the first one (they look great). I forgot to set the tps when I first took it out and it was amazing. Then when I double checked this post I saw that I needed to set the tps, I gained 400 rpm's. That REALLY helped the bike just after the throttle gets cracked open. Now it will pull to redline in 6th gear (-1 front sprocket) I haven't done the Eskort ignition advance mod., not sure if I will. Does the 3 degrees affect the bike being able the run on 87 octane? Would have been nice to just order Ivan's jet kit but I've been pinching pennies, have to adult sons without jobs so I do what I can to make ends meet.

I'll have to wait on the rotor advance until snow flies or a couple days of rain in the forcast not much riding time left. Just got back from the Smokies, Wednesday and it ran much better on the Cherahola Skyway this time.

I'm a bit closer in proximity to the Infamous Ravenrider than most here and we shared several phone calls as I navigated these mods and tweaked the tuning early this spring.

Glenn does not need my $.02 to add to his credibility here but I can attest to the transformation of the 1st Gen FZ1 performance characteristics after getting the setup together.

It is interesting to point out that I eventually wound up running it pretty much exactly as Glenn originally told me to after trying the advice of a few other notable sources ie jet kit "manufacturers" and "experts" first. ;)

Perhaps this post may save a few folks from expanding their horizons unnecessarily in favor of zeroing in on the good stuff which is basically right here for the asking.

Thanks Buddy! Have a Blessed Day, I hope all is right in your part of the World and your Life! Call or PM anytime!

__________________Somewhere in the middle of mostlyflatstraightroadsville...

OK, I'm in the middle of all this and have my carbs apart all over my work bench and am unable to find the washers I need to shim the needles anywhere. The staff at Radio Shack looked at me like I was on crack when I asked them and I've been to several electronics and computer stores and found 3 washers (at least I didn't have to pay for 'em) that might work. HELP!!!

And of course the weather went from cold and rainy to absolutely beautiful this week

__________________If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

Any good bolt supply should have them. I think they are M4 size. Most important is that they fit the needle nicely and are 0.5 mm thick. Just carry one of the existing shims with you to the store to compare. They should be about $4 per 100.If tehy will sell you them individually, probably less than a $ for however many you want.

__________________
There is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Naked FZ1's can be a lot of fun. Bike Pics
Current bikes: '82 CBX, '04 FZ1 (skunk)

Go to Radio Shack and look in the drawered bins in the back. Trust me they have a small plastic bag/package full of them for a couple bucks. When the salesman asks if you need help tell him to get lost so you can have some quality time searching those bins.

edit:

washer linky
here ya go, just write down the P/N and take it in, should make the search a bit easier.

Go to Radio Shack and look in the drawered bins in the back. Trust me they have a small plastic bag/package full of them for a couple bucks. When the salesman asks if you need help tell him to get lost so you can have some quality time searching those bins.

edit:

washer linky
here ya go, just write down the P/N and take it in, should make the search a bit easier.

Thanks for that link, I'll go back and give 'em a look. I looked through the drawers a bit there but didn't find 'em. However I think I'll make it to Grainger before I get to work today, the kids go to school about 1/2 mile from there.

__________________If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.